LinkedIn Disabled Exposed Passwords after Gawker Attack

As a precaution against Gawker contamination LinkedIn, the professional networking site is disabling the passwords of users whose mail IDs were included in the customer data which was exposed by an attack on the Gawker blog sites. This is a preventive measure, considering the possibilities of reusing the same password of Gawker sites in any of the LinkedIn accounts.

Hijackers can programmatically verify whether the already exposed passwords are in use in any of the LinkedIn accounts and thus do malpractice and harm the functionalities. To avoid the risk, it is better to avoid using the same password in more than one context. The company in a mass mailing session asked the users to reset the password to ensure the safety. LinkedIn also cleared that there is no indication that any LinkedIn account has been affected.

The site asked the users in the email, to be conscious about seak passwords even though passwords are encrypted with reliable technology. LinkedIn also expressed anxiety to customers who use same password for multiple purposes or on different websites. In fact, this had already happened in twitter by using the data captured from some accounts and sending spam just after the Gawker breach.